An election that should be of primary concern

When you live in the Poconos long enough as I have, you evolve from "transplant" to "local." And you learn a lot of things along the way, some unexpected, and some flat-out different.

Wayne Witkowski

When you live in the Poconos long enough as I have, you evolve from "transplant" to "local." And you learn a lot of things along the way, some unexpected, and some flat-out different.

Take elections, for instance: Every state seems to have its own style of what goes to the ballot.

And since you don't get a sample ballot in the mail here, you have to follow coverage in the Pocono Record and get its Voter's Guide to know candidates and their platforms. You may get fliers from them and phone solicitations. You may already know some or meet them while they campaign.

But you learn here that you elect municipal and state lawmakers, and also judges, the county sheriff, county coroner, municipal tax collectors and sometimes even constables. Constables? What is this — England?

Tax collectors, coroners, judges? I thought they were selected, not elected. Whatever happened to job interviews?

You also learn, sadly, that primary elections such as the one on Tuesday is a misnomer in some respects. It is not the primary concern to many voters.

And there are important ones to consider such as township supervisors where Dick Vollmer in Lehman Township and Mike Dwyer in Middle Smithfield are incumbents, although Dwyer had served a shortened term replacing a resigned supervisor and has since helped right the rocking ship fiscally. And Lee Bower, who ran for supervisor before, and Ann Ligi, who is the head of the Shawnee Preservation Society and the Planning Commission in Smithfield Township, are running for a seat there being vacated by Christine Grififin in her expiring term.

Paul Menditto also will vacate his supervisor seat in Lehman with two years left on his second term if he is elected as a magisterial district judge against two other candidates. He says this is a different feeling because it includes voters from two other townships — Delaware and Porter townships as well as Lehman. "People expect you to be more professional in what you do and say," Menditto said. "They expect more out of you and are more interested in your qualifications, your temperament, even to the point of how you dress."

Through it all, voters don't show up for primaries and they should. It's important. It includes voting for the school board where in the East Stroudsburg Area School District seven candidates are campaigning for four seats. That's important enough in this publication to be the cover story this week.

"It's extremely important and sad that so few people come out to an election like this, an off year primary election," Menditto said. "These positions affect people day to day. Schoolboard elections often are decided in primaries."

When times are good, registered voter turnout dips into the 20th percentile. If they vote, it's in the general election. But taxes are high. Schools have been closed in the area, and some in this district were considered for closure. Your vote influences the direction of the quality of education of students and whether your taxes will go up again and how much.